The Hall of Records
The Forgotten Realms timeline maintains canon until around 1296 Dale Reckoning (DR). Like the Many Worlds theory, once the Primal suppositions manifest, the events of the timeline we know begin to diverge. It starts small, but there is a sensitive dependence on initial conditions... Most canon events still unfold in some form or fashion. The world actors of 1296 owned the stage and their social momentum didn’t suddenly stop. The three cataclysms still rocked Toril, but the reaction, response and recovery starts to look a little different. The farther away from the nexus of change in Baldur’s Gate, the less the Forgotten Realms' time stream is affected by the ripples of change. The closer the proximity, and the more time passes, the bigger the differences. Nearly two centuries later, by the "current time" of ~1489 DR, those suppositions are heating the Sword Coast to the boiling point. House Stonehearth is the catalyst for change and the PCs come in just as planning explodes into action. * Metagaming: why 1489? Timeline Pre-1296 * Before the Beginning: events leading to the creation of House Stonehearth 1297 * The Library of Baldur’s Gate becomes The Stonehearth College * The conspicuous success of the Stonehearth Merchant Company (SMC) * The SMC seeds the paper industry * The founding of the consolidated Stonehearth Arms 1303 * Stonehearth cartage challenges inspire wainwright development… 1305 * Stonehearth Arms felt the first touches of the Naturalist Method… 1308 * The Scribe business moves into the realm of magic… 1310 * Rediscovering the natural philosophy of Optics… 1311 * The Stonehearth College: The Indivisible Universe 1312 * The SMC’s magic scroll business diversifies into general arcane consumables… 1314 * Stonehearth College points out the imperfection of the heavens… 1315 * Destroying Demonic Invasions… 1316 * A division of labor multiplies the product… 1317 * Measuring heat: a Prelude to Steam 1320 * Expanding into mechanical miniaturization... 1321 * Stonehearth creates the tools of the mechanical trade (and discovers tiny worlds)… 1323 * The inception of the Industrial Age 1325 * Stonehearth leads a Baldur’s Gate-Lantan Standardization Concord… 1327 * Gold and Paper: from ledgers to Presses to Schools… 1328 * Outgrowing the Walls: the need for Construction capacity… 1329 * Beneath the foundations: SMC Mining, Aggregate and Magic 1330 * Stonehearth devised a new way of calculating business figures… 1331 * The Heavy Metal of Stonehearth’s Blacksmith 1335 * Increased tensions between Stonehearth and the Council of Four… 1338 * The Business of War leads to Cannons 1341 * Stonehearth builds a Mythal Defense System 1343 * Working backward for the horses of the Stonehearth College 1345 * Stonehearth supports Eltan’s bid for power in Baldur’s Gate 1351 * The SMC arcane inscription rises to the next level… 1358 * The Time of Troubles begins the Era of Upheaval… 1359 * As magic faltered, mechanics and mundane medicine surged… 1362 * The SMC rolls out Scrolls of Correspondence 1365 * Strange magic presents itself to House Stonehearth 1368 * Baldur’s Gate suffers the Iron Crisis 1372 * The Shadow of Netheril returns to Faerûn 1373 * Stonehearth’s Parchment of Duplication 1378 * Arcane Revolutions – and accusations 1384 * Anywhere else: the Industrial Revolution 1385 * The Spellplague and Stonehearth’s Foreign Allies… 1388 * Mundane healing comes to the forefront 1394 * Growth of Stonehearth’s Industrial Revolution 1398 * The Stonehearth Decision to Rebase 1399 * Scouting and surveying the future North Point area 1400 * Stonehearth reestablishes contact with Lantan 1401 * The Rise of the Gate Riverboat 1402 * Stonehearth-Tethyr relations deepen 1404 * Stonehearth reestablishes contact with Halruaa 1405 * Horseless Carriages occupy abandoned Roaringshore as a staging area 1406 * Stonehearth charters itself as a Marquisate 1408 * Supply trains start moving north, both by ship and over land 1409 * Ground breaking for North Point Keep 1410 * One Year since North Point ground breaking 1411 * Stonehearth begins North Point mining operations, strikes gold… 1412 * Trolls prove their regional reputation 1413 * North Point University: the Reinvention of the Seed Drill 1414 * Mageweave Barony: the first elevations to Stonehearth Nobility 1415 * North Point tinkers develop the threshing machine 1416 * Trolls vs the Mageweave Barony 1417 * North Point tinkers patent the grain elevator 1418 * Hello again: zombie invasion 1419 * North Point begins construction on town walls… 1420 * Stonehearth tinkers develop explosive ammunition 1421 * Stonehearth evolves past steam: magic motors 1422 * Trolling the Southern Front 1423 * Mageweave invents Arcane Energized Crystals and Refrigeration 1424 * Vampiric attack consolidates North Point community 1425 * Stonehearth deploys Books of Learning… 1427 * The Dimming… 1428 * Lathtarl’s Return 1429 * The Incredible Vanishing Troll Hill 1430 * The Arcane Construction and Demolition Company 1431 * The First Bend Battle 1432 * Lantan swears fealty to the Stonehearth Coronet 1433 * Stonehearth guns evolve past propellant 1434 * The Southern Highlands Expansion 1435 * Reapers cap massive agricultural engineering developments 1437 * An arcane explosion flattens a portion of central North Point 1438 * Mythals blanket expanded marquisate 1439 * Hearth’s Reach Tower is built on the North Shore 1440 * Troll Wave at Hearth’s Reach 1444 * Arcane healing comes to the forefront 1445 * Port Station is unveiled in North Point 1446 * Apostles to Apostates: Changing the Divine Frequencies 1448 * The Troll Bypass Attack 1450 * Marquisate Mythals power quasi-magical items 1451 * Neverwinter is destroyed by volcano 1452 * The Evolution to the Charter of Light – and the Lords’ Alliance Recognition 1455 * The House becomes a Waterdhavian Masked Lord 1458 * The Flow of Bones Attack 1459 * Stonehearth builds Hilcross Keep in the east Outer City of Baldur’s Gate 1461 * Stonehearth repulses a Netherese attack 1462 * Stonehearth founds – and Halruaa joins – the Commonwealth of the Charter of Light 1465 * Arcane Wonders: Wands of Casting and Arcanophones 1467 * The Church of the Light illuminates Western Faerûn 1471 * The Trollclaw Malice 1476 * Neighboring Elturel suffers mysterious tragedy… 1479 * Arcanoscopes are released… 1480 * The Boneshard Fleet is sunk in view of North Point Harbor 1481 * The Marquisate’s Arcane secrets “leak”… 1482 * The Commonwealth brings their own… home 1484 * Toril realizes a Second Sundering has begun 1487 * Stonehearth diplomacy in the wake of the Era of Upheaval… 1488 * Shadowbane: the Marquisate’s foothold in former Netheril… 1489 * Stonehearth executes their Duty to Act…